Cabinet door



y 3, 1951 E. J. LE CLAIRE 2,559,193

CABINET DOOR Filed July 16, 1945 3 Sheets-Shae: 1

July 3, 1951 E. J. LE CLAIRE CABINET DOOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1945 '2 Ea. I JZM Qwvwvbow (7 92,4 m. Emni$ July 3, 1951 E. J. LE CLAIRE CABINET DOOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 16, 1945 Fla. 8

Patented July 3, 1951 CABINET DOOR Eugene J. Le Claire, St. Paul, Minn., assignor to Harry F. Joesting, St. Paul, Minn.

Application July 16, 1945, Serial No. 605,290

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to an improvement in doors and deals more particularly in the type of a door which is designed for use on sterilizers, pressure cookers, and the like.

The object of the present invention is to provide a door capable of withstanding relatively high internal pressure. Other types of doors for this same purpose have previously been constructed. These doors, however, have ordinarily been considerably more complicated and costly to manufacture than the present door, and have accordingly been somewhat more liable to get out of proper working order.

A feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a door for a pressure cooker or the like, which includes a series of substantially radially extending arms which engage beneath lugs on the door frame to hold the door firmly in place. The arms are in the nature of levers which may be actuated from a point near the center of the door. Accordingly all of the arms may be operated simultaneously to clamp the door closed.

A further feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a door having outwardly extending arms and in providing substantially hook-shaped lugs on the frame beneath which the arms may engage. As a result the arms may be engaged or disengaged by a slight rotary movement of the door. This enables the arms to clamp the door closed with but a slight movement.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the manner of supporting the door so that it may efiectively seal against the door frame. Adjustable means are provided for supporting the door so that as it is swung into closed position it will engage its gasket properly throughout its entire circumference. As doors of the general type disclosed are usually quite heavy and rigidly supported this feature is of importance from a safety view point.

A further feature of the present invention lies in the fact that the door can not readily swing open prematurely. Should the clamping pressure on the door be released, the radial arms will still hold the door in its proper position until the steam pressure within the cooker or sterilizer is released. It is essential that the door be bodily rotated in order to disengage the arms from the supporting lugs, and as internal steam pressure would have no tendency to rotate the door about its aids, it would be virtually impossible to open the door accidentally. Furthermore, the steam within the closed chamber would be directed out laterally about the periphery of the door so that the person opening the door or releasing the clamping pressure therefrom would not be injured by this escape of steam.

A feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a cabinet or the like which adjustably supports a hinge. This hinge in turn adjustably supports the door. Thus the pivotal attachment between the door and the hinge may be adjusted as well as the attachment between the hinge and the cabinet. As a result virtually any adjustment may be obtained between the door and its supporting cabinet.

These and other objects and novel features of my invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claim.

In the drawings forming a part of my specification:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a cabinet door showing my new construction.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view, the position of the section being indicated by the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the door in a different rotative position.

Figure 4 is a vertical section on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view through an edge of the door and the door frame showing the construction of the parts thereof.

Figure 6 is a sectional view through the center portion of the door showing in enlarged form a portion of the detail shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.

Figure 7 is a sectional view showing a portion of the construction illustrated in Figure 2 in enlarged form.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the door supporting shaft showing adjustment therefor.

Figure 9 is a sectional view through a portion of the door hinge, the position of the section being indicated by the line 99 of Figure 1.

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a latch associated with the door.

The door A is designed for use upon a cabinet B, the detail of construction of which is not illustrated in the drawings. The cabinet may be of any desired type such as is used for sterilizing or steam cooking purposes, or may be used for any other desired purpose.

The cabinet B is provided with a cabinet liner l0 which is cylindrical in shape and which is fitted with an angular flange ll welded to the open end thereof. The angular ring H reinforces the open-end of the liner l0 and forms- 3 a means of connecting the liner to the cabinet supporting structure.

The cabinet B is provided with an angular supporting frame which includes vertically extending angle members I2 to which the door and liner are secured. An inner ring-shaped angular flange I3 is arranged in spaced relation to the ring-shaped member II and annularly spaced nuts I4 are welded or otherwise afiixed thereto as illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawings. Hook-shaped or L-shaped bolts I5 extend through the ring-shaped flanges II and I3 to hold these parts in assembled relation. Certain of these bolts I5 also extend through the vertical angular members I2 as illustrated in Figure 5 so as to hold the rings II and I3 and the cabinet liner I connected thereto in proper position. The bolts I also extend through the front panel I6 of the cabinet casing H. The front casing panel I6 is provided with an aperture of proper size to accommodate the cylindrical flange I9 of the angle ring II. Thus the cabinet casing, the cabinet frame, the supporting rings II and I3, and the liner I0 are all held in proper relation by the bolts I5. Lock nuts 26 on the bolts I5 hold these bolts in adjusted position.

The door A is supported by hinge brackets 2| which are secured by bolts 22 to the rings II and I3. These hinge brackets 2| are provided with parallel hinge plates 23 through which a hinge shaft 24 extends. The uppermost and lowermost of the hinge plates 23, respectively, support journals 25 which are welded or otherwise aflixed to the plates 23. These journals 25 have an oval-shaped aperture 26 therethrough through which the shaft 24 extends. Set screws 21 extend into the journals 25 from opposite sides thereof as indicated in Figures 3 and 8 of the drawings to provide for adjustment of the shaft 24.

A hinge 29 is supported by the hinge shaft 24. The hinge 29 is provided with two spaced sleeves 30 from which merge spaced arms 3| and 32, which extend parallel for some distance from the sleeves 30, and which converge together to form a center supporting plate 33 for the door A. As indicated in Figures 2 and 9 of the drawings, the hinge arms 3| and 32 are angular in shape so as to clear the outwardly projecting mechanism of the door and the spaced arms 3| and 32 are connected by an integral connecting brace 34. To render the arms 3| and 32 more rigid a brace 35 extends from each sleeve 30 to a point on the respective arms spaced from the cross connecting member 34. These braces 35 rigidify the angular construction of the hinge.

In order to hold the door A in proper relation to the hinge 29 I provide the connecting mechanism best illustrated in Figure 9 of the drawings. A resilient bracket 36 is supported at one end 31 to each brace 35 and is provided with a 1 free end 39 extending substantially parallel to the front panel of the cabinet front panel in closed position of the door. A pin 40 projects from a boss 4| on the door A. Collars 42 hold the pin 40 in adjusted position relative to its bracket 36. Thus the door A is connected to the hinge 29 by its center plate 33 and by two spaced pins 40.

A circular channel 43 is secured to the front surface of the cabinet encircling the entrance to the cabinet liner I0. A gasket 44 is mounted in this channel 43 against which the door A may seat. The door A includes a dish-shaped or concaved outer shell 45, and preferably also includes an inner shell 46 welded marginally to the outer shell forming a double thickness wall with an air space therebetween. The concave door is 5 arranged to project outwardly from the cabinet and to bear marginall against the gasket 44.

In Figures 2 and 6 of the drawings I disclose the support between the door and the center plate 33 of the hinge 29. The outer shell is provided with an inwardly extending sleeve 41 centrally thereof which sleeve is provided with a closed lower end 49. A bearing 5|) is supported within the sleeve 41 to rotatably support the door operating shaft 5|. Thisshaft 5| is provided with a collar or enlarged diameter portion 52 thereupon outwardly of the shell 45. A bear- 7 ing 53 is secured to the shell 45 by bolts 54 or other suitable meands and engages about the shaft 5| outwardly of the collar 52. Thus the bearing 53 holds the shaft 5| from longitudinal movement, although this shaft may rotate freely with respect to the door.

The center plate of the hinge 29 impinges against the outer edge of the bearing 53 and is held in place by a collar 55 rather loosely supported on the shaft 5| by a set screw 56 or the like. A boss 51 is welded or otherwise afilxed to the hinge plate 33 to assist in supporting the door.

Thus it will be seen that the door is supported by the collar 55 and the bearing 53, and is additionally supported by the pins 4|! in the manner previously described. This mounting of the door to the hinge is capable of some fiexure due to the resilient mounting bracket 36 and the rather loose connection between the collar 55 and the shaft 5|. By adjustment of the collars 42 and adjustment of the set screws 21 supporting the hinge shaft 24, the position of the door to properly fit its gasket is regulated.

As best disclosed in Figure 7 of the drawings; the outer end of the shaft 5| is threaded to en-, gage the internally threaded sleeve 59 of a hol low cylindrical cross head 69. The cross head 69 includes the threaded sleeve 59, a larger diameter spaced sleeve 6| and disc-shaped end plates 62 and 63 welded thereto to form a cylindrical hollow enclosure. The sleeve BI is provided with a series of angularly shaped slots 64 near its lower edge to accommodate an end of each of a series of radially extending levers 65. The levers 65 are each pivotally connected at 66 (see Figure 5) to the outer shell 45 of the door A. The outer end of each lever 65 is engageable within the hook-shaped end of one of the bolts I5. These bolts I5 project from the ring II and are all supported with the hook-shaped ends directed in the same rotative direction. As a re-{ sult the levers 65 may be disengaged from the bolts I5 by a rotative movement of the door. Rotation of the door within said limits is per-j missible as the-door is rotatably supported to the hinge center plate 33 and as the pins 4|] extend through slots 61 in the brackets 36.

With reference again to Figure 7 of the drawings it will be noted that a band 69 encircles the sleeve 6| and is secured thereto by bolts I6 ex-. tending through vertical slots II. This ring 69.

ing relative to the remainder of the door, but

supports a sleeve 12 with its axis parallel the.

permits movement of the crosshead toward or away from the shell 45.

The band 59 forms the double purpose of supporting the sleeve and acting as a fulcrum for the levers 65 projecting through the slots 64. Should relative wear occur between the cross head and the lever ends the band 69 may be adjusted in position to take up this wear. As a safeguard to prevent the swinging open of the door, I provide a series of angularly spaced arms 74 which project beyond the periphery of the shell 45 and which are engageable with keepers 75 such as are illustrated in Figure 10 of the drawings. The keepers F5 are provided with a cam surface 16 thereupon engageable with the arm iii to rotate the door into locked position as the door swings closed. When closed the arms id engage beneath the locking finger 77, thus preventing the door from swinging outwardly.

The operation of the door is believed obvious from the foregoing description. A wheel '29 is provided on the outer end of the shaft 51 to permit rotation of this shaft. The cross head 60 is moved outwardly by rotation of the shaft 5|, this action pivoting the lever 95 so that the inner ends are away from the door body and that the outer extremities are swung toward the cabinet. The door may then be swung closed, the arm 74 striking the cam surface 76 and rotating the door into closed position. If desired the arms M and keepers 75 may be eliminated, in which case the door is swung into closed position, as illustrated in full lines in Figure 3 of the drawings, and then pivoted into locked position as illustrated in dotted outline in Figure 3, or as shown in Figure l of the drawings.

The wheel 19 is then again rotated so as to move the cross head 60 toward the body of the door, pivoting the outer ends of the lever 65 out into engagement with the hook-shaped ends of the bolts 15. When thus engaged, the door is securely closed and will withstand considerable pressure. The door may be opened by reversing the operations described above.

It will be noticed that relatively little movement of the lever 65 is required, as it is only necessary to relieve the presure between the levers and the bolts. When this pressure is relieved, the door may be swung to disengage the levers 6 from engaging position beneath the ends of the bolts.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application, Serial No. 475,589, filed February 11, 1943, which has matured into Patent No. 2,427,564 for Boiler Systems.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my door, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiments thereof, I desire to have it understood that these are only illustrative of a means of carrying out my invention, and that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claim without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

A pressure cooker comprising a body having an aperture therein, a closure for said aperture, a hinge secured to said body, means rotatively securing said closure to said hinge, a shaft projecting from said closure, a cross head threadably engaged upon said shaft, a series of radially extending levers pivotally secured to said closure, said cross head being hollow and having slots therethrough into which one end of each of said levers may extend, means on said body engageable with the other end of each of said levers, and ring means longitudinally slidable on said cross head and secured to said cross head in adjusted position for simultaneously adjusting the fulcrum point between the cross head and said levers.

EUGENE J. LE CLAIRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 277,001 Chapin May 8, 1883 286,755 Wilson et al. Oct. 16, 1883 1,197,702 Williams Sept. 12, 1916 1,250,495 Randolfo Dec. 13, 1917 1,465,906 Holloway Aug. 21, 1923 1,799,905 Jacobs Apr. 7, 1931 1,833,208 Davidson Nov. 24, 1931 2,045,303 Ludington June 23, 1936 2,355,475 Skaller Aug. 8, 1944 

